Coal delivery truck



lime E, 1150 E. H. M AFEE fi fi COAL DELIVERY TRUCK Filed April 6, 1954 INVENTOR.

WAM W ATTORNEYS.

Patented June 18, 1935 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE COAL DELIVERY TRUCK Earl H. McAfce, Detroit, Mich. Application April 6, 1934, Serial No. 719,317 2 Claims. (01. 29824) My invention relates to a coal delivery ve- Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the coal hicle adapted for storing, transporting, and disreceptacle and the supporting frame of the charging coal. vehicle,

It has been the general practice in the past Fig. 4 is a rear end view of the coal receptacle 5 to provide coal transporting vehicles, such as showing the closure operating mechanism, and I 5 coal trucks, with apparatus for shiftably in- Fig. 5 is an elevated view of a vehicle showing clining the coal container in order to discharge the position of the coal receptacle supported the coal therefrom. Such a provision not only thereon. raised the initial cost of the vehicle but it also In the drawing reference it! indicates a vehiresulted in expenditures for the upkeep of the ole frame upon which cross supporting members 0 apparatus. There was also the ever present ii are provided at spaced intervals. These likelihood that this movable apparatus would cross members, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5 supget out of order and render the vehicle useless port a coal receptacle or bin generally indicated until repaired. at M. This receptacle is of a rectangular shape An important object of this invention is to and open at the top in order to permit coal to 15 provide a coal container or bin upon a vehicle be loaded thereinto. which does not require tilting apparatus but in- A number of openings it are provided in the stead is self operating to discharge the coal walls of the bin and are located adjacent the therefrom with equal, if not better, effectiveness. bottom of the bin forming discharge outlets for A further object of this invention is to prothe coal therein. Closure members for these 2 vide a coal transporting vehicle with a coal box openings are indicated at is and are mounted fixedly secured thereto and provided with a to slide vertically between the rails 20. Manubottom so constructed with inclined floor secally operating mechanism for raising these 010- tions that the coal within the box can be comsure members to open the discharge outlets is pletely emptied in measured quantities through shown at 22 and comprises a pivoted handle 5 a plurality of discharge outlets in the walls of connected through linkage with the closure the coal box. 1 members I8. The closure members [8 are nor- To accomplish the above objects, the coal mally in closed position due to their weight, transporting receptacle is constructed in a novel but they can be retained in open position by manner. A number of discharge outlets are proany obvious method such as that indicated in 30 vided about the receptacle adjacent the bottom the drawing wherein a removable element 24 is of its wall portions. The floor of the bin is adapted to be secured in an aperture 26 to supprovided with inclined sections extending upport the handle 22 in raised position as shown wardly and away from the openings in several in Fig. 4.

directions and form. a general funnel arrange- The floor of the coal bin I4 is constructed in 35 ment which causes the coal to collect adjacent such a manner about the discharge outlets Hi the outlet. The upper, topmost portions of the as to cause the coal near each of these outlets inclined sections join with one another and the to gravitate in the direction of these outlets and wall of the receptacle to form a plurality of comto run out of the bin when the closure members partments or stalls whose capacity may be, if are opened. The floor of the bin is provided 40 desired, a standard measure of coal. Each stall with inclined sections 30 extending rearwardly is thus provided with a discharge outlet at the away from the outlets l6 and in an upward dilowermost level of its inclined floors, and upon rection. (Jo-extending with the inclined sections opening any one of the outlets, the coal is easily 3!) are other inclined floor sections 32 which and rapidly discharged to any place of deposit terminate at their lowermost p s adjacent 45 outside of the vehicle. to the discharge outlets. Floor supporting mem- Other advantages and important features of bers Pa l. of any desired construction may be used my construction will more fully appear from the for suppo the floors in inclined positioniollowing description, appended claims and ac- In order to obtain the best results with the minicompanying drawing wherein: mum amount of waste space utilized, it is best 50 Figure 1 is a top View of my coal receptacle to incline these floor sections at approximately and its mounting upon a vehicle frame, 45.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of my coal receptacle he nc i ed floo e ti ns 30 a d 32 3 i having portions cut away to show the interior with one another at 36 in the interior of the coal construction, bin as shown in Fig. 1. Rising above the com- 55 mon junctures 35 of these inclined floor sections are vertical partitions 38. The latter partitions in conjunction with the inclined floor sections divide the coal bin into a plurality of stalls or pockets, and the capacity of these stalls may be pre-arranged to contain a standard measure of coal. In the embodiment in the drawing, the larger stalls or compartments represent 2. capacity of one ton while the smaller compartments are adapted to hold a half a ton each. A laterally extending flange 40 may be provided along the top of the partitions 38 in order to aid in retaining the coal within the stalls.

The performance of the coal receptacle I4 is readily apparent. Upon opening a closure member 53 for one of the stalls, the inclined floor sections of this stall will cause the coal therein to roll downwardly in the direction of the 'outlet and to be discharged therefrom. Coal chutes may be provided to collect the coal as it is discharged froin the outlet and convey the coal to any point of deposit. If more than a ton, or a half a ton, has been ordered, the coal chute can be attached adjacent any one of the other outlets in order to receive another measure of .coal. In the event that it is difficult to connect the chute from a point of deposit to one of these discharge outlets, the coal truck can be turned around or otherwise moved to enable the connection to be made.

When delivery of a number of small coal orders is required, a vehicle embodying this invention may be used to fill these orders in one run. The transporting vehicle, having been filled up to capacity, can make a stop at each of the places desiring coal and deliver the measure of coal desired at each of these places.

While one illustrative embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, it is not my intention to limit the scope to that particular embodiment than otherwise by the terms of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a motor vehicle having a supporting frame, a coal box mounted on said frame having side walls and end walls, certain of said side walls each provided with a gate controlled dis-' charge outlet adjacent the bottom thereof but above said supporting frame, one end wall provided with a pair of gate controlled discharge outlets adjacent the bottom thereof, the floor of said coal box provided with a plurality of inclined sections extending upwardly and away from each of said outlets, one of said inclined sections extending upwardly and away from one of said side outlets meeting with another inclined section extending likewise from the other side outlet substantially on the longitudinal median line of said coal box, another inclined section extending upwardly and away from each of said side outlets meeting with another inclined section extending likewise from one of said end outlets on a line transverse to said coal box, other inclined sections extending upwardly and away from said outlets to connect with adjacent walls of the coal box, all of said inclined bottom sections joining with one another and the walls of the coal box at a common height equal to the'height of the walls of the coal box, said inclined sections arranged together to provide a plurality of pockets in said coal box of general funnel shape each adapted to cause the coal therein to completely flow out through an outlet.

2. A vehicle for transporting measured quantities of coal comprising, in combination, a longitudinal frame, a rectangular coal box mounted above said frame and provided with side and end walls, each of said side walls provided with a discharge outlet adjacent its bottom edge above the level of the frame, one of said end Walls provided with a pair of discharge outlets adjacent its bottom edge above the level of said frame, the floor of said coal box being formed of a plurality of inclined sections each having their lower edges terminating adjacent the discharge outlets so as to cause the coal in the box to gravitate toward the outlets, a vertical partition extending along the longitudinal median line of the coal box, a second vertical partition extending transversely to the coal box at substantially one third the length of the coal box from the end wall having the pair of discharge outlets, said longitudinal and transverse partitions dividing the coal box into two relatively large'stalls each adapted to hold a ton of coal and into two relatively small stalls each adapted to hold a half a ton, each of said stalls communicating with one or" said discharge outlets to deliver coal therethrough.

EARL I-I. MCAFEE. 

